Group 1 Australian Guineas and Group 1 Manikato Stakes winner
HEY DOC was sidelined after well documented bone chip surgery. Fresh on the scene having sidestepped the Spring Carnival, he resumed from his break and the noted first-up specialist led but was no match when swallowed-up and beaten by
TELEPLAY and Home Of The Brave at W-F-A over 1300m at Sandown in the Gr3 Kevin Heffernan Stakes.
McEvoy then placed the 6yo
Hey Doc to advantage by sending him over to WA to take on the tired Spring Carnival horses and WA’s lesser grade sprinters over 1200m at their feature sprint, the
Gr1 WFA Winterbottom Stakes (1200m) at Ascot and by doing so, recorded his third win at Gr1 level.
From a wide barrier, jockey Luke Currie simply eased the gelding across and was absolutely gifted an uncontested lead. A traditionally keenly contested affair, dunce’s caps must have been in use as opposed to skull caps, as the opposition riders allowed Hey Doc to get away with soft sectionals.
From there, under W-F-A conditions, it became a procession and it was obvious around the home turn that Hey Doc had the race at his mercy.
"I definitely would have liked to have drawn inside a few," Currie said.
"When I got over, I never felt I was going to get beaten. He did it nice and easy in front.
McEvoy said “Hey Doc was fabulous today. All the signs were telling us that. It’s been about a five-month campaign to get him back. We gave him a long time with his injury and then gave him a long slow prep back.
“He was very close at Sandown, and his class got him to within a neck and then to see the improvement, well I wish I was a punter I would have had a bet”.
“He was going even time outside them here,” McEvoy said.
“I thought to myself
‘this is ridiculous.’ He got there in a hand canter.
“I said to Luke don’t rush and let them find their spots and then we’d come across.
“Well, he got there so easy. It was incredible. Then I knew he would be very hard to pass.”
Hey Doc took his overall record to 23 starts: 9 wins, 1 second, 3 thirds with earnings of $2,387,300.
His winning margin was two and a half lengths by a neck in WA’s feature sprint.
TELEPLAY gave Hey Doc a 3-length head start head start and went past him in the Gr3 WFA Heffernan Stakes a fortnight earlier, coming home the last 600m in 34.12 whilst they ran home in 34.19 secs in the Winterbottom.
TELEPLAY (inside) hits the front over Home of the Brave (wide) and Hey Doc (middle) in Gr3 Heffernan
TELEPLAY recorded two Gr3 wins in a row, having won the 1400m Gr3 Jim Beam (Maybe Mahal) on Melbourne Cup Day at Flemington.
TELEPLAY winning the Gr3 Jim Beam on Cup Day
After her Kevin Heffernan win, which was only her fourth start for the preparation, Team Dynamic looking after the well-being of our prized mare, chose to spell TELEPLAY as opposed to pushing on with her, with the view of giving our mare a good break before returning for a crack at some autumn races ahead of a career change to becoming a very valuable broodmare.
It’s always satisfying when
a mare can beat a dual Gr1 winning older gelding at Weight-For-Age and then, that gelding goes on and win another Gr1 WFA event at its next start.
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TELEPLAY returning to the Winners Circle after winning the MSS Security Sprint LR Cup Day 2018
It certainly franks the form and allows us to look positively towards TELEPLAY’s next preparation.
Now an extremely valuable breeding prospect, TELEPLAY is by Written Tycoon x Special Episode by Redoute’s Choice).
TELEPLAY is a three-time Stakes Winner and also Gr3 placed mare.
She has won 5 races including:
Gr3 Kevin Heffernan W-F-A 1300m
Gr3 Maybe Mahal 1400m
LR MSS Security Sprint 1200m
3rd Gr3 Mannerism 1400m.
Her Dam SPECIAL EPISODE is a 1200m winning 3/4 sister to Gr1 Winner FIRST SEAL.
TELEPLAY is the Grand-daughter of dual Gr1 Oaks Winner EPISODE.
